Volleyball team in China: Day 10

May 30, 2013

Our last day touring China was absolutely beautiful. Since it was overcast and rainy yesterday, today was clear with bright blue skies and we could actually see the mountains from the city for the first time since we’ve been here (usually you can’t see anything because of the smog).

It was a perfect day to visit the Summer Palace, which was a summer get a way on the lake for the Emperor. We started taking a walk around the lake but soon realized that after climbing the Great Wall yesterday there was no way our legs were going to make it the entire way around the lake, so we decided to take a dragon boat back to the other side.

Before entering the actual Palace we walked through a few art galleries that had jade, bronze and miscellaneous art pieces including vases, sculptures and other things. Once we finally made it to the palace we took about 200 steps to the very top where the Emperor stayed to see the beautiful view of the lake and city. I can only imagine how peaceful that place was… I’d definitely be OK with having it as my summer home that’s for sure.

After the Summer Palace we went back to the market again for the third time to do a quick walk through to make sure we had everything we wanted. Some of us may have spent more than we wanted but hey, you’re only in China once! YOCO!

Sadly the rest of the night we spent packing up our stuff to make sure it all fit since we leave tomorrow. Two of the girls had to go in together to get another suitcase because they had so much stuff… we’ll leave you parents wondering who it is until they get home and surprise you with all their goodies :-)

Dreading this 13-hour flight tomorrow, hopefully we don’t all get off the plane with kanckles again like last time! This will be the final blog, so once we hit Chicago, we will be in contact with family and friends via phone, text, Facebook and twitter. Thanks for following along in our wonderful journey the last nine days.

Did you miss earlier installments of the team's travelogue? Click below for specific days: